Pain arising from one or more spinal
(facet) joints is a common cause of neck and back pain. The facet joints are
the articulations or connections between the vertebrae in the spine. They are
like many other joints in the body. They have a pain sensitive joint membrane
surrounded by a thick joint capsule There is lubricating fluid with in the
joint space.The joint surfaces
are covered with cartilage. The spinal facet joints allow for bending and
twisting movements of the spine. The facet joints can become inflamed secondary
to injury or degenerative disorders including arthritis. An inflamed facet
joint will cause pain and stiffness.

A facet joint can become symptomatic
in the absence of any structural evidence of arthritis. The presence of facet
joint arthropathy renders the facet joint more vulnerable to become inflamed
with normal activity and to injury. When the facet joints are affected in the
neck (cervical spine) it typically causes focal pain. Pain may radiate and
cause a headache or shoulder pain. When the facet joint are affected in the low
back (lumbar spine) there will be local pain. Radiating pain may extend to the
sacroiliac region, buttock, groin, hips or down into the leg.

Facet
arthropathy is defined as osteoarthritis of the synovially lined apophyseal spinal
(facet) joint. Facet disease (â€œspine joint diseaseâ€?) is a common cause for
chronic back pain with a prevalence ranging from 8-75%. It is felt by some to
represent the most common source of chronic back pain. The mechanism
contributing to pain is complex involving the presence of chemicals which
induce and promote inflammation (inflammatory mediators). It is also caused by facet
nerve irritation and the presence of chemicals such as substance P which
facilitate pain. These factors can be triggered by many stimuli, including recurrent
microtrauma, an inflammatory process, osteoarthritis, as well as distension and
inflammation of the spinal joint lining. Facet arthropathy may be associated
with the development of a facet (synovial) cyst and degenerative disc disease.

Educational Partners

To learn more about your spine. spinehealth, and available spinecare go to the International Spine Assocition (ISA) at www.spineinformation.org. The
primary mission of the ISA is to improve spinehealth and spinecare through education. The ISA is committed to disseminating need-to-know information throught the World
Wide Web in numerous languages covering many topics related to the spine, including information about spine disorders, spine heath, advances in technology and available spinecare

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American Acedemy of Spine Physicians and/or International Spine Association physicians or health professionals unless otherwise specified.

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